7 Account-Based Marketing Strategies for B2B Teams

Get your account-based marketing program up and running quickly using the Terminus ABM strategies framework.

The number one concern I hear from B2B marketers considering an account-based marketing program is that it will be too difficult to implement. Will they have to restructure their team? Revamp their entire marketing strategy?

The simple answer is no.

Every B2B company has unique processes and goals, so ABM can’t be a one-size-fits-all strategy. To help marketers get started with the right ABM strategy and campaigns, we’ve created the Terminus account-based marketing framework.

The Terminus account-based marketing framework provides the guide rails to fashion an ABM program that works for your strategic initiatives and existing processes. Beginning with the four basic approaches account-based marketing, the framework allows marketers to systematically define an ABM strategy all the way down to tactical implementation.

Read on for a more detailed explanation of each of the seven ABM strategies and a real-world example of how this framework can be used to execute a successful marketing campaign.

Types of Account-Based Marketing

First, you’ll need to select the right type of account-based marketing for your business. Typically, marketers select the type based on account tiering, strategic initiatives, marketing resources, and experience. As first described by ITSMA, there are three distinct types of ABM:

1:1 ABM – Marketing is aligned with a single, high-value account.

ABM Lite – Marketing is highly targeted toward a curated list of companies (usually between ten and 100) that have significant commonalities in firmographics, pain points, use cases, or other dimensions.

Programmatic ABM – Marketing is targeted toward a broader segment of accounts, such as particular personas within a certain vertical.

Uniquely, Terminus allows for a fourth type of account-based marketing called Bolt-On ABM. This aptly named type of ABM allows marketers to gain account reach when nurturing an individual lead by “bolting on” a tool like Terminus to their lead-based marketing program.

Pros and Cons of Bolt-On Account-Based Marketing

Bolt-On ABM solves one of the basic challenges of lead-based marketing: being unable to reach the entire buying committee within a company. Bolt-On ABM is the fastest way to extend marketing’s reach to all of the influencers and decision-makers in an account while nurturing an individual lead. This type of ABM is easily automated and can be added to existing marketing automation flows.

However, Bolt-On ABM doesn’t provide the same efficiency gains or personalization as the other types of account-based marketing. One of the key benefits of the other types of ABM is that marketing dollars are not wasted on a “spray and pray” approach. Instead, the entire budget is spent on marketing to targeted accounts.

Where Does the Terminus Platform Fit In?

Unlike lead-based marketing, ABM is effective for initiatives across the entire buyer and customer journey. Terminus is one of the only account-based marketing tools that has shown an impact at every stage with every type of ABM, from top-of-funnel demand generation to accelerating deals through the sales process to supporting customer marketing and product launch efforts.

For example, some Terminus customers run 1:1 ABM campaigns aiming to expand into other business units at current customer accounts. When the goal is to land and expand at a large enterprise company, this warrants a highly personalized approach.

7 Must-Try Account-Based Marketing Strategies

Broadly speaking, the three primary use cases of account-based marketing are demand generation, sales pipeline, and customer marketing. Within these categories, marketers can apply seven essential ABM strategies.

4. Pipeline Acceleration – Support sales efforts to engage more influencers and decision-makers in target accounts with education, experiences, and evidence aligned to each stage of the buying process.

5. Wake the Dead – Re-engage “dead” opportunities to build sales pipeline with accounts that are most likely to close.

As you go through the SlideShare above, you’ll find that the description of each strategy includes its purpose, common tactics, benefits, and KPIs. For any given ABM strategy, it is most effective to employ more than one tactic at a time to effectively engage accounts. Furthermore, each strategy or campaign should have a KPI that clearly aligns with the campaign’s objective.

Real-Life Example: Using Multiple Account-Based Marketing Strategies

In any campaign, it is common to combine multiple ABM strategies. To see how this works, let’s look at a real campaign we ran here at Terminus to drive pipeline for a #FlipMyFunnel event we were sponsoring.

First, we selected 375 net-new accounts based on strategic and geographic criteria. Then, we combined pre-targeting and account nurturing to run an effective ABM campaign.

The goal for our pre-targeting strategy was to drive as many registrations from the target account list as possible. To do this, we developed an omnichannel campaign with a birthday party theme (which aligned with the conference theme). All of the marketing assets were based on the idea of an invitation to celebrate with Terminus. The campaign included Terminus digital advertising campaigns, direct mail, and call and email cadences that were personalized with an invitational video from our sales reps.

After the event, we used an account nurture strategy to follow up with the target accounts that attended. We utilized Terminus campaigns in conjunction with email to get in front of the contacts who attended the event as well as other stakeholders at the accounts who did not attend.

Of the 375 target accounts, just 11% attended, yet they represented more than 36% of the pipeline generated from the event. As is typical with ABM campaigns, our efforts yielded significantly improved business outcomes compared to traditional approaches, while vanity metrics (such as event attendance) were lower. The key to account-based marketing is quality over quantity, which results in more efficient and effective marketing.

See More Examples of Account-Based Marketing Campaigns

Want to see more examples of how Terminus implements demand generation and sales pipeline account-based marketing campaigns? Check out Terminus on Account-Based Marketing, a presentation by Terminus’ Director of Marketing Operations, Stephanie Kelly.

In this slide deck, Stephanie shares the account-based marketing programs we have developed internally at Terminus, including an “always-on” pipeline velocity program to support our account executives, ABM campaigns for events, and a strategy for expanding reach into accounts for inbound efforts. Click here to see more ABM campaigns in action.

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